Tips to Prolong Cell Phone Battery Life

With all that we can do with cell phones these days and all the social/ communication/ entertainment functions they now play in the lives of millions, we use up a lot of battery power (meaning we are stuck charging our phones more often and using more electricity to charge it). Here are 7 simple ways to get the most from each charge and prolong the battery life as long as possible.

7 Simple Tips to Prolong Cell Phone Battery Life

1. Turn on Energy-Saving Settings

Cell phones have energy-saving settings including how long the backlight stays on, the screen brightness, and the vibration levels. Most of these can be changed with the phone settings section of a cell phone. Did you know that not leaving a backlight on at all saves a lot of battery power?

2. Say No to the Animated Wallpaper

Although having the animation may look really cool, it uses up a large amount of battery power by demanding so much more from your phone’s graphics card. How often do you even watch the animated wallpaper after it’s been the background for a while? Opt out for a nice photo background and save battery power.

3. Choose Simple Ringtones

Although musical tones are more appealing than the standard ringtones on a phone, they take up a larger chunk of battery power. Default ringtones are a bit more bearable these days, try choosing one of those instead. The less your phone has to think, the longer it is going to stay alive.

4. Turn the Programs Off

When you aren’t using phone programs such as GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, or anything that searches for things such as the news and weather, turn them off because they are a big battery drain. If you aren’t actively using the program, turn it off completely. Also, make sure to turn off your phone when it is roaming. When your phone is searching for a signal, it uses up a lot of battery power. If you are in the middle of no where and your phone can’t find a signal, it is going to kill itself try.

5. Try Out Corded Headsets

Ever seen someone walking down the street looking like they are talking to themselves when they are really using a Bluetooth headset? Not only do they look strange talking to themselves, they are also using a lot of battery power with the Bluetooth headset. Corded headsets require less battery power, and could potentially decrease cancer risks. Plus you don’t need to worry about always keeping your headset battery charged up.

6. Use Photo Features Moderately

Although it is neat to have the camera or a camcorder built into the phone for capturing moments, the flash and editing features use a lot of battery power (and usually aren’t very good). While we are not suggesting not using these features at all, try to use them as little as possible. Camera phones are best for situations where you never expected to be taking a picture, but a simple camera is going to do a much batter job and since it only has one job to do, will hold a charge much longer.

7. Clean the Battery and Charge the Device Properly

Keeping the battery clean with a few simple maintenance steps helps the battery to perform at its best and use less of its power. Clean the battery contacts every once in a while. Also, charge the battery correctly. Lithium Ion batteries, which are used in newer phones, need to be charged before the battery completely dies out in order to prolong the batteries life. Although these batteries hold their charge, they lose about 5% of the charge power per month. Look at what kind of a battery your phone uses and charge it according to the recommendations from the manufacturer. Also, keep your phone plugged at night or when it is not being used. Batteries can only be rearched a finite number of times and so the more often the phone is running off of an outlet, the better.

Source: Discovery-PlanetGreen